Sunday, June 28, 2015
YOUCAT Question n. 43 - Part II. Is the world a product of chance?
(Youcat answer - repeated) No. God, not chance, is the
cause of the world. Neither in its origin nor with respect to its intrinsic
order and purposefulness is it the product of factors working “aimlessly”.
A deepening through
CCC
(CCC 297) Scripture bears witness to faith in creation
"out of nothing" as a truth full of promise and hope. Thus the mother
of seven sons encourages them for martyrdom: I do not know how you came into
being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in
order the elements within each of you. Therefore the Creator of the world, who
shaped the beginning of man and devised the origin of all things, will in his
mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves
for the sake of his laws… Look at the heaven and the earth and see everything
that is in them, and recognize that God did not make them out of things that
existed. Thus also mankind comes into being (2 Macc 7:22-23, 28). (CCC 319) God
created the world to show forth and communicate his glory. That his creatures
should share in his truth, goodness and beauty - this is the glory for which
God created them.
Reflecting and
meditating
(Youcat comment)
Christians believe that they can read
God’s handwriting in his creation. To scientists who talk about the whole world
as a random, meaningless, and aimless process, Pope John Paul II pointed out in
reply in 1985, “Given a universe in which there is such a complex organization
of its elements and such a wonderful purposefulness in its life, talking about
chance would be equivalent to giving up the search for an explanation of the
world as it appears to us. In fact it would be tantamount to accepting effects
without cause. It would be an abdication of human reason, which in this way
would be refusing to think and to search for a solution to problems.”
(CCC Comment)
(CCC 298) Since God could create everything out of nothing,
he can also, through the Holy Spirit, give spiritual life to sinners by
creating a pure heart in them (Cf. Ps 51:12), and bodily life to the dead
through the Resurrection. God "gives life to the dead and calls into
existence the things that do not exist" (Rom 4:17). And since God was able
to make light shine in darkness by his Word, he can also give the light of
faith to those who do not yet know him (Cf. Gen 1:3; 2 Cor 4:6).
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